TAMPA, DEC. 20, 2018 – Redshirt freshman Randall St. Felix capped off his breakout first season as a Bull by setting USF postseason and Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl records with a career-high 165 receiving yards in a 38-20 loss to Marshall on Thursday night at Raymond James Stadium.

St. Felix (Miami) set a career high with two touchdown receptions in the fourth straight bowl game trip for USF (7-6) and his second score helped drop an 18-point halftime deficit down to 11 late in the third quarter. St. Felix's first touchdown came on a 38-yard pass from senior receiver Tyre McCants (Niceville, Fla.) in the opening quarter.

USF got another notable performance from junior Greg Reaves (Bradenton, Fla.), who matched the Gasparilla Bowl record and set a new USF postseason milestone with a career-high 14 tackles (13 solo).

The defensive end that moved to linebacker in the second half of the season due to injuries in the Bulls' lineup finished with 89 tackles on the year, second only to fellow linebacker Khalid McGee's 111.

Junior quarterback Blake Barnett (Corona, Calif.) returned to action after missing the regular season finale with an injury, completing 11 of 23 passes for 212 yards and a touchdown. Barnett finished the season with 2,710 passing yards, good for fifth on USF all-time season chart.

In its 10^th bowl game appearance, USF headed into halftime trailing 28-10 in its first-ever meeting with Marshall, which scored 21 points in the first quarter.

Interim offensive coordinator Justin Burke promised to put new wrinkles in the Bulls' play-call arsenal and one fooled the Marshall defense for a touchdown.

Down 14-0, McCants took a direct snap and hit fellow receiver St. Felix in stride on a 38-yard scoring connection with 2:43 left in the opening quarter. It marked just the third touchdown allowed by the Marshall defense in the first quarter this season.

Coby Weiss (Gainesville, Fla.) extended his field goal streak to eight straight with a 22-yarder just four seconds before halftime. The 10-play, 69-yard scoring drive was highlighted by a diving 27-yard catch by Mitchell Wilcox (Tarpon Springs, Fla.) and a career long 25-yard reception by Stanley Clerveaux (North Miami, Fla.). Clerveaux set a new career high with 51 receiving yards.

Weiss increased his field goal streak to nine consecutive made attempts with a 31-yarder on the first series of the second half that cut the deficit to 28-13. The 14-play scoring drive was kept alive with St. Felix's 29-yard reception down to the Marshall 11 on fourth-and-6. St. Felix's clutch catch also put him over 100 receiving yards for the fourth time in his stellar debut season with the Bulls.

St. Felix's memorable night continued with a 33-yard touchdown catch that helped USF pull within 11 points of Marshall with 3:16 to play in the third quarter. At that point, St. Felix owned both USF and Gasparilla Bowl records with 165 yards on six catches.

USF fell short in its attempt to complete the program's fourth double-digit fourth quarter comeback of the season.

Key Stats
165 – Redshirt freshman Randall St. Felix set Gasparilla Bowl and USF postseason records with 165 receiving yards.
21 – Marshall seized the momentum with a 21-point first quarter.
14 – Greg Reaves matched the Gasparilla Bowl record and set a new USF top postseason mark with 14 total tackles (13 solo).

Notables

• The Bulls made their four straight bowl appearance and were seeking their third consecutive postseason win.
• USF finished the season with a school record 3,173 passing yards.
• Sophomore DB Mike Hampton posted one pass breakup in the game to finish second on the USF season charts with 16. Hampton had 18 passes defended on the year, one off the USF season record of 19 set by Bernard Brown in 1999.

 
ABOUT USF FOOTBALL
In just its 22^nd season of football, and 19^th at the FBS level, the USF football program has earned 10 bowl appearances, including a current run of four straight, and owns a record of 6-3 in bowl games. The Bulls have appeared in the national top 25 rankings in each of the past three seasons, including a program record run of 20 straight weeks in the top 25, and in 2018 reached the program's 150^th win faster than any FBS program in state of Florida history. USF has posted a pair of 10-plus win seasons in the last three years, including a program-record 11 wins (11-2) in 2016, and logged 15 winning seasons overall. Since first taking the field in 1997, the USF program has reached as high as No. 2 in the national rankings (2007), seen 30 players selected in the NFL Draft, 14 named All-American and 29 earn first-team all-conference selection.